AIKEN, S.C. – The nationally-ranked University of South Carolina Aiken tennis teams were unable to upset the top-ranked Armstrong Atlantic State tennis teams on Wednesday afternoon at the USC Aiken Tennis Complex.

In the men's match, national No. 1 Armstrong (1-0, 1-0 PBC) bested No. 35 USC Aiken (1-1, 0-1 PBC), 9-0. The women's match saw top-ranked Armstrong (1-0, 1-0 PBC) claim a 9-0 victory over No. 44 USC Aiken (1-1, 0-1 PBC).

The matches marked the first home matches of the year for the USC Aiken men and women, who were also opening their 2013 Peach Belt Conference campaigns against Armstrong. 

In the women's match, the Pacer No. 1 doubles tandem of Margot Simon (Nantes, France/St. Joseph de Loquidy) and Shauna Williams (Columbia, S.C./Broward Community College) played the national No. 1 doubles tandem of Aleksndra Filipovski and Barbora Krtickova extremely well with the Armstrong duo holding on for an 8-4 win.

In the men's match, national No. 26 Kevin Zerath (Marseilles, France/Euromed Management Marseille) of USC Aiken gave national No. 1 Georgi Rumenov all he could handle at No. 1 singles. In the battle of two of the top players in all of Division II, Rumenov squeaked by with a hard-fought 1-6, 7-6, 12-10 win.

The match at No. 1 singles was the not the only one to be forced to the limit with USC Aiken's Andy Quirk (Glasgow, Scotland/Wisconsin) narrowly losing to Armstrong's Jaan Kononov 6-4, 0-6, 12-10 at No. 5 singles. 

The USC Aiken women will next welcome Converse to the USC Aiken Tennis Complex at 2 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 8. The Pacer women will then close out their week with a 1:30 p.m. league match against UNC Pembroke in Pembroke, N.C. on Sunday, Feb. 10.

The Pacer men will next return to action against Queens at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 15 at the USC Aiken Tennis Complex.